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Friday, September 11, 2009

BEHIND THE HEADLINES

* Support for the "Left," the only mainstream political party in Germany that is demanding an immediate withdrawal of Germany's 4,200 soldiers in Afghanistan, rose four points to 14% in the latest poll. The campaign signs for Germany's Left party send a clear message: "Out of Afghanistan!" It's a sentiment widely held by many Germans and has increased since a German commander in Afghanistan ordered an air strike on two fuel tankers, hijacked by the Taliban last week, that left scores of people dead, including civilians.

* The Pentagon has proposed transferring U.S. military equipment from Iraq to Pakistani security forces to help Islamabad step up its offensive against the Taliban.

* A policy research group says the Taliban have a significant presence in almost every corner of Afghanistan, eight years after their overthrow by US-led forces. A security map showed substantial Taliban activity in at least 97 percent of the war-ravaged country. The council added that the Taliban now have a "permanent presence" in 80 percent of the country.

* The U.S. will not give up anti-missile defence, whatever the result of the ongoing check of the previous George Bush administration's plan may be, Martin Povejsil, new Czech ambassador to NATO recently said.

* Five years ago almost half of the Polish population agreed that "war under certain circumstances was justified,” now this number has dwindled to just 4%. Poles like Obama more than Bush, but are against his war in Afghanistan, according to a new survey.

* In February 2005, the U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee cited "the need to continue examining the roles, missions, and capabilities of Japan's Self Defense Forces (SDF) and the U.S. Armed Forces required to respond effectively to diverse challenges in a well-coordinated manner." A few months later, Japanese forces participated for the first time in the Cobra Gold military exercise with the United States, Thailand, and Singapore. With 240,000 troops, extensive air and naval power, and a $50-billion annual budget, the SDF could soon provide key assistance to an overtaxed U.S. military in certain East Asian contingencies.

TRANSLATION: NATO wants to expand into the Asian-Pacific region and Japan's SDF are tops on the list as "global partners".

* Helicopter pilots from the Czech Republic Air Force recently underwent training at an Israeli air base in the Negev. They sought to learn from the Israeli pilots' experience, especially under desert conditions, to prepare for active duty in Afghanistan.

* "CIA had important successes in covert action. Perhaps the most consequential of all was Afghanistan where CIA, with its management, funnelled billions of dollars in supplies and weapons to the mujaheddin, and the resistance was thus able to fight the vaunted Soviet army to a standoff and eventually force a political decision to withdraw." [Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, BBC News, December 1, 2008]

* The United States is bracing for a possible nuclear war with North Korea, as well as the regime's possible sudden collapse, according to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies .

* Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sept 10 his country recognizes Georgia's two former breakaway republics, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as independent states.

* The US should remove its nuclear weapons from the Dutch Volkel air base in Noord-Brabant province, Labour MP Martijn van Dam told Radio Netherlands.

* Former Colombian president and head of the Organization of American States Cesar Gaviria -- not known as a progressive -- called the current Colombian government a "dictatorship" this past week. That's the government with whom the Pentagon wants to develop a longer-term "partnership" for new US bases in Colombia.

* Mission Space: Out in space two alien life forms are speaking with each other. The first spaceman says, "The dominant life forms on the earth planet have developed satellite-based weapons." The second alien asks, "Are they an emerging intelligence?" The first spaceman says, "I don't think so. They have them aimed at themselves."

Actor Charlie Sheen has done a remarkable job of creating a list of fundamental questions about 9-11 that have yet to be answered.

He is addressing these questions to President Obama asking for a new investigation. The questions are included in his letter called "20 Minutes with the President." See it here

I used these same questions on Wednesday evening during the radio show that Peter Woodruff and I do on a nearby Brunswick station. We had Stephen Shaw from Maine 9-11 Truth on the show to discuss the topic. For two hours we played 9-11 music and weaved Stephen's responses to the questions onto the air. He did a fantastic job and we felt good about helping to bring a bit more attention to this still unresolved matter.

9-11 opened the door to endless war for oil and control of pipeline routes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sadly few in the peace movement will publicly talk about 9-11 even though privately they have strong feelings about the case. For two years after 9-11, in every speech I gave, grassroots activists would always raise the issue during the question and answer sessions after my talks. But the leadership of their organizations would almost always shut down discussions of 9-11 not wanting to be "branded" as conspiracy theorists. The only conspiracy at work was their own silence.

There is no doubt in my mind that this was an inside job. The pancake collapse of the two towers, and then the fall of Building 7 which was not even hit by an airplane, should be enough evidence to convince even the most skeptical. Never in the history of steel framed buildings had there ever been such a collapse because of fires. They were obviously built to withstand fires. They were obviously brought down in a controlled demolition.

On and on the story goes......

We should not let this case die. It was the biggest crime perpetrated against the American people in our nation's history. The criminals are still in power. The criminals are not hiding out in caves in Afghanistan, they are inside the halls of our own government, they are inside our military-oil-congressional-media industrial complex.

Democracy only works when the public has the information and the motivation to demand that truth and justice prevail. It's never too late to start.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Plain and simple, some folks are drinking the Kool-aid today after Obama's speech last night.

He ruled out single-payer, he wobbled on his own earlier idea of "public option," and he began to prepare the public for the emergency landing......it's going to be called health insurance corporation "reform".

Translation: We are going to end up getting the Massachusetts plan where everyone will be required by law to purchase a health insurance policy....those who can't afford it will get a very limited and weak insurance policy subsidized by the taxpayers. In the end it will be more welfare for the wealthy insurance corporations.

This whole exercise of hearings, town hall meetings, debates, etc on health care has been a public relations campaign. They always intended to do this corporate plan but had to give the public the impression that the democratic process was working and that they were actually giving serious consideration to what the people think. It was a trick.

So it was no surprise tonight to see the following reported by the Reuters news agency:

Shares of U.S. health insurers [corporations stocks] climbed on Thursday after analysts saw no “game changers” from President Barack Obama’s highly anticipated speech on health reform. Following the speech, analysts predicted any changes to the system would be moderate, with Obama backing many initiatives put forth earlier this week by a leading Senate committee. The possibility a threatening public health plan would be enacted also now seemed doubtful, analysts said.

So there you have it...investors on Wall Street came away from the speech "reassured" that Obama will do as the corporate insurance industry wants and their profits are expected to dramatically grow as a result.

Any so-called "progressive" that wants to explain this corporate sell-out as something good is essentially waving the white flag in this fight. And they are trying to sugar coat another Obama corporate give-away. Many progressive groups know they have to applaud this slight-of-hand because if they publicly complain they will lose their funding from sources that are allied to the Democratic Party (sources of funding like foundations, unions, and/or wealthy Democrats).

A couple months ago I posted a story from the Washington Post about how the Obama team was calling funders on the phone and telling them to defund any progressive group getting out of line on issues like war, climate change, and health care.

By now you've likely seen the article explaining how the "United States expanded its role as the world’s leading weapons supplier, increasing its share to more than two-thirds of all foreign armaments deals."

The New York Times reported, "The United States signed weapons agreements valued at $37.8 billion in 2008, or 68.4 percent of all business in the global arms bazaar, up significantly from American sales of $25.4 billion the year before.

"Italy was a distant second, with $3.7 billion in worldwide weapons sales in 2008, while Russia was third with $3.5 billion in arms sales last year — down considerably from the $10.8 billion in weapons deals signed by Moscow in 2007."

Any doubt that "security export" is going to be our role in the global economy in coming years? We won't make clothes, shoes, cars, steel, etc.....we are going to build weapons, invade and occupy other countries, and keep our collective boot on the necks of the people of the world so that we can extract their oil, natural gas, precious mineral resources, their water, and their cheap labor. The US has become the military arm of corporate globalization.

In recent days I've seen several news articles from places like Colorado and New Mexico heralding the "success" of the military takeover of public schools. This is all part of "security export" strategy as we must now funnel working class kids, who will have few other job prospects, into the military. The economic draft is working quite well.....but the public could care less because these are poor and working class kids and they don't count.

This of course indicates that we are not going to be able to stop the US proclivity toward war making unless and until the peace movement and the general public begins to understand and talk more about this new direction for our nation - security export.

What does weapons production and the need for endless war say about the soul of our nation? What does it say about us as a people that we have to continue killing in order to provide jobs so workers can feed their families? How long are we willing to hand over our children to this endless war machine? How can we expect to have peaceful relations with the world as we continue to militarize our culture and foist weapons and conflict on the rest of the world?

What is the peace movement saying about an alternative vision to this security export plan? What is our program for job creation? Why are we not leading on this?

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

BLOWBACK IN AFGHANISTAN

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Here is the now "famous" 9-11 petition that got Van Jones run out of the Obama administration. Notice that I signed it too. The right-wing is already planning to go after more "socialist-types" in the Obama administration. If Obama doesn't soon stand up and fight against this brown shirt red-baiting he might as well resign himself.Unlike Van Jones I do not renounce my signing of the letter as a "mistake". I proudly stand by the letter, and the fundamentally important questions it poses, as I am sure all the others who signed it do as well.

The StatementWe Want Real Answers About 9/11On August 31, 2004, Zogby International, the official North American political polling agency for Reuters, released a poll that found nearly half (49.3%) of New York City residents and 41% of those in New York state believe US leaders had foreknowledge of impending 9/11 attacks and "consciously failed" to act. Of the New York City residents, 66% called for a new probe of unanswered questions by Congress or the New York Attorney General.

In connection with this news, we have assembled 100 notable Americans and 40 family members of those who died to sign this 9/11 Statement, which calls for immediate public attention to unanswered questions that suggest that people within the current administration may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war.

We want truthful answers to questions such as:

Why were standard operating procedures for dealing with hijacked airliners not followed that day?

Why were the extensive missile batteries and air defenses reportedly deployed around the Pentagon not activated during the attack?

Why did the Secret Service allow Bush to complete his elementary school visit, apparently unconcerned about his safety or that of the schoolchildren?

Why hasn't a single person been fired, penalized, or reprimanded for the gross incompetence we witnessed that day?

Why haven't authorities in the U.S. and abroad published the results of multiple investigations into trading that strongly suggested foreknowledge of specific details of the 9/11 attacks, resulting in tens of millions of dollars of traceable gains?

Why has Sibel Edmonds, a former FBI translator who claims to have knowledge of advance warnings, been publicly silenced with a gag order requested by Attorney General Ashcroft and granted by a Bush-appointed judge?

How could Flight 77, which reportedly hit the Pentagon, have flown back towards Washington D.C. for 40 minutes without being detected by the FAA's radar or the even superior radar possessed by the US military?

How were the FBI and CIA able to release the names and photos of the alleged hijackers within hours, as well as to visit houses, restaurants, and flight schools they were known to frequent?

What happened to the over 20 documented warnings given our government by 14 foreign intelligence agencies or heads of state?

Why did the Bush administration cover up the fact that the head of the Pakistani intelligence agency was in Washington the week of 9/11 and reportedly had $100,000 wired to Mohamed Atta, considered the ringleader of the hijackers?

Why did the 911 Commission fail to address most of the questions posed by the families of the victims, in addition to almost all of the questions posed here?

Why was Philip Zelikow chosen to be the Executive Director of the ostensibly independent 911 Commission although he had co-authored a book with Condoleezza Rice?

Those who are demanding deeper inquiry now number in the hundreds of thousands, including a former member of the first Bush administration, a retired Air Force colonel, a European parliamentarian, families of the victims, highly respected authors, investigative journalists, peace and justice leaders, former Pentagon staff, and the National Green Party.

As Americans of conscience, we ask for four things:

* An immediate investigation by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer* Immediate investigation in Congressional Hearings.* Media attention to scrutinize and investigate the evidence.* The formation of a truly independent citizens-based inquiry.

Given the importance of the coming election, we feel it is imperative that these questions be addressed publicly, honestly, and rigorously so that Americans may exercise their democratic rights with full awareness.

In closing, we pray and hope for the strength to approach this subject with wisdom and compassion so that we may heal from the wounds inflicted on that terrible day.

Signed,

Signatories

Note: All organizations are mentioned for identification purposes only. Individuals have signed this statement as an act of their own conscience, not to signify organizational endorsement.

FRAGMENTS OF MILITARISM

* I got the above interview via email today from South Korea. The story ran in the union newspaper called "Work and World." One question they asked me, and my response, follows:

If there is anything that you can [suggest] to the KCTU that has a sociopolitical role in the progressive movement in South Korea, please tell?

It is my belief that under corporate globalization a plan is being developed to further militarize the world by expanding NATO and use this "global military alliance" to control resource extraction as fossil fuels and other important natural resources begin to decline on the planet. I now call this corporate globalization process "21st century feudalism." Space technology will become a key military tool to put this global control mechanism into operation. In order for us to effectively deal with this coming reality people must first know about it and understand it. All our movements must become much better at working together, sharing information, and developing strategies to counter these corporate domination plans. We must globalize our resistance to corporate domination. Some of this is happening today but not nearly enough. I'd like to be a part of finding ways to expand this kind of work.

* Also in the emails today was a story from Afghanistan by the Associated Press that reported how soldiers from the US Army's 10th Mountain Division stormed through a Swedish run charity hospital in central Afghanistan, breaking down doors and tying up staff in a search for militants.

The article reported that "The charity said on its Web site that the troops actions were not only a violation of humanitarian principles but also went against an agreement between NATO forces and charities working in the area."

* I took part in a meeting yesterday in Brunswick to begin organizing a statewide campaign to oppose the use of the closing Brunswick Naval Air Station as an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Test Center. The base is set to be shut down in 2011. We had key organizers from around the state at the meeting. Since the state of Maine will be funding the "redevelopment" of the base at some level it makes this a statewide issue. All signs are showing us that the aerospace industry in Maine, and many leading politicians, are pushing this as a "jobs" program for the state.